Pardew defends scoring record

17 December 2013 12:46

Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is confident his team has not become over-reliant on Loic Remy's goals.

The 26-year-old France international scored eight times in his first 10 appearances for the club after completing a season-long loan deal from QPR in August.

He has not registered in his last four games and passed up two glorious opportunities to add to his tally in Saturday's 1-1 Barclays Premier League draw with Southampton.

However, with Yoan Gouffran and Moussa Sissoko having fired the Magpies to victory over West Brom and Yohan Cabaye claiming a long-awaited victory at Manchester United, Pardew believes Remy's mini-drought is not unduly worrying.

He said: "We spread it around reasonably well, but it would be nice to have goals from all sorts of areas of the pitch.

"But I don't think we are over-reliant on him, if I am honest. He's just at the pinnacle of our attacks, mainly.

"Being a natural goalscorer, he gets the bulk of the chances. He is playing very well and we have just got to hope that continues."

Such has been Remy's impact at St James' Park that he has forced his way back into the France squad, and left Newcastle fans hoping the club can push through a permanent deal, although that remains far from done with the player keen to assess his options.

The striker, of course, came close to signing for the Magpies in January, but just as Pardew thought he had got his man, he decided instead to head for Loftus Road in an Â£8million switch from Marseille as QPR blew the Tyneside club's financial package out of the water.

However, his six league goals - one of them in a 2-1 home defeat by Pardew's men - could not prevent Rangers from slipping out of the top flight.